TAIWANESE AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS CALL UPON WHITE HOUSE TO REFER TO TAIWAN AS TAIWAN AND NOTHING ELSE

In a May 8, letter to the White House, Taiwanese American organizations expressed their dismay about the occurrence on the front page of the East Asia and the Pacific section of the State Department's newly released 2002 Country Report on Human Rights of the reference to Taiwan as 'China' (Taiwan only.)

The letter states:Taiwan's president, Mr. Chen Shui-bian, has repeatedly stated that Taiwan no longer maintains that there is only "One China." In recent statements, he has been quite clear about the separate sovereignty of Taiwan. On August 3, 2002, he declared, "Taiwan is not a part of any other country, nor is it a local government or province of another country. Taiwan can never be another Hong Kong or Macau, because Taiwan has always been a sovereign state.

The letter continues "there is no such thing as a "divided China" today, that Taiwan is not a province of China, and that thus Taiwan can not be referred to as "China (Taiwan only.)"

The letter concludes: "We ask that you consistently refer to Taiwan as "Taiwan" in the next Human Rights Report and your other publications".

Ming-chi Wu, Ph.D., President of FAPA, states: "Taiwan is not part or province of China. Taiwan today is a sovereign nation and there is no dispute about its de facto independent status. It is high time that the rest of the world in general and the United States in particular accepts this reality.